convert thick disk to thin using a command line via the vmkfstools on the esxi host ~ Angels Technology

So you have a thick provisioned disk and you want to convert it to a thin provisioned disk.

Another issue you have is that you don’t have storage vmotion.

Well, what do you do then?

Here is out think provisioned disk

Step 1: power off you virtual machine.

Step 2: ssh in to the esxi host.

Step 3: go to the directory where you have your vmdk disk

Step 4: convert the thick disk to think using this command

vmkfstools -i SERVERNAME.vmdk -d thin thinSERVERNAME.vmdk

So in the above example it will be

vmkfstools -i Convert3.vmdk -d thin thinConvert3.vmdk

Step 5: Move original vmdk out of the way

mv SERVERNAME-flat.vmdk orig-SERVERNAME-flat.vmdk

So the example it will be

mv Convert3-flat.vmdk orig-Convert3-flat.vmdk

Step 6 . Move new thin .vmdk flat file into place

mv thinSERVERNAME-flat.vmdk SERVERNAME-flat.vmdk

So the example it will be

mv thinConvert3-flat.vmdk Convert3-flat.vmdk

Step 7: remove the vm from inventory and readd. Then power on

(right click vm and remove from inventory via vsphere client )

Now your vm is thin provisioned:

based on : http://communities.vmware.com/message/1668191

Angels Technology